There’s a new wrinkle in the raging issue about the shabu laboratory in Palta Small.

Two weeks earlier, this writer cited the importance of the CCTV recorder as a vital piece of evidence in the case against whoever is responsible for its operation.

If the recorder is intact, it could provide a clue as to who conducted the pre-emptive raid on the warehouse a day before the actual Nov. 26 search. It would also indicate who else entered the warehouse on the months or days before the raid, as well as the activities therein.

While the list in the official report of the Catanduanes police did not include a CCTV recorder, it is indeed included in the inventory submitted to the Regional Trial Court.

In fact, the device recovered from the warehouse is locked in a cabinet of the Virac police station after it was turned over to them by the SOCO. Is it still intact? Has it been tampered with?

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The Christmas Cheers 2016 edition, which traditionally starts on the same day as the beginning of the early morning Misa de Aguinaldo, is set Dec. 13 to 30.

A technical team from DOH regional office reportedly arrived last Monday to assess the rash of diarrhea cases in the capital town of Virac that has felled more than 50 persons so far.

One of the first sites visited by the team was the residence of a BIR employee with a pre-existing heart condition who succumbed to the ailment as well as the home of a farmer in Sto. Niño, who died after enduring about 20 LBM events. The team is expected to look into the source of the bacterial infection, either contaminated water or unsanitary practices in the affected barangays.

It may be recalled that during a meeting of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chaired by Mayor Samuel Laynes, officials of the Virac Water District insisted that the potable water they supply to 7,000 residents of the poblacion is being monitored daily. Sto. Niño has its own water system providing water to its residents. Local health personnel, however, pointed out that most, if not all, of those who were stricken get their water from VIWAD.

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THE FAITHFUL HUSBAND. A businessman packing for a trip glanced in his briefcase and called to his wife: “Honey.”

“Yes, darling?” she answered.

“Honey,” he said mildloy exasperated, “why do you persist in putting a condom in my briefcase every time I go on a trip? You know I only have eyes for you. I’d never be unfaithful.”

“I know, darlng,” she said, “and I trust you implicitly. It’s just that, well, you know, with all those terrible diseases out there, it would make me feel bett5er to know that if anything did happen, you’d be protected. So please, darling, take it with you, won’t you? For my sake?”

“Oh, all right, if you put it like that,” he relented. “I’ll do it for you. But for heaven’s sake, give me more than one!”